labor

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Workers achieved settlement of labor disputes

Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. on September 21 agreed to revoke the dismissal of a worker and to end discrimination in wages and promotions against workers who participated in the movement demanding better working conditions.

In the agreement with the workers, the company promised to respect constitutional human rights provisions as well as labor laws, and to pay settlement money to the workers in compliance with the local Labor Relations Committee order.

In 1978, Kondo Masahiro, a worker at Kawasaki's Kobe plant, was fired after he refused to comply with a transfer order because he intended to marry a woman worker in the same plant. He filed a complaint with the Kobe District Court, asking for an injunction against the dismissal. But the court rejected his claim.

Kondo and his wife, soon joined by colleagues, began to call for monetary support for their protest at the plant entrance. They toured all over the country to collect signatures in support of their struggle and repeatedly made representations to Kawasaki Heavy Industries headquarters. Last year, he also went to the United Nations to expose the outrageous dismissal in a report in English.

Kawasaki in 1966 introduced a "job performance-based pay scale," placing activists struggling for better working conditions at the lowest rank and made their monthly salary about 100 thousand yen less than other workers with the same years of service. In 2003, the local labor commission ruled on Kawasaki's wage discrimination and ordered the company to redress its violations. -- Akahata, September 22, 2005